It is believed that once a year a raw chicken egg can be installed on the surface with one of the ends so that it does not fall. We checked how correct this statement is.

This is what information can Meet On the Internet with reference to the St. Petersburg Astrological Academy:

“The story of the Columbian egg is known, which tells that the great navigator won the dispute by putting a raw egg on a dumb end. Some say that the egg was boiled and Columbus simply slightly crushed its dumb end. Others say that the table in the tavern was wooden, did not differ in smoothness and the cunning Columbus found a hole in which he installed an egg. Still others even subject this fact to doubt.

The truth is that a raw egg can be put on a dumb end, and it will really stand, but this can be done only once a year - on the day of the spring equinox. This simple experiment was conducted by many. A raw egg stands on a flat surface during the day. It can even be put on a smooth glass surface, and it will stand for many hours until the gravitational conditions change. The essence of this phenomenon is that during the days of summer and winter solstices the earth is turned to the Sun by one of the poles and the sun illuminates mainly one of the hemispheres: either northern or southern. Along with lighting and the gravitational field of the Sun, it affects both hemispheres. In the days of the spring and autumn equinoxes, the sun equally illuminates both hemispheres, and the gravitational field affects them evenly.

Therefore, on the day of the spring equinox, unique gravitational conditions are created, when the gravitational field evenly affects both halves of a standing egg. On other days, this balance is violated, and the stability of the egg becomes impossible. The basis of this fact is not metaphysics, but physics. During this period, the egg can be put on its dumb end, and it can remain in the upright position for one or two days. ”

The text is present on the set siteswhere the answers to school tasks are aggregated. However, the information indicated in it is popular and in itself - so, in Russia, on March 20, people regularly Conduct experiments with an egg setting, and in China, as the media write, this Many centuries ago It turned into traditional game, accompanying the meeting of the Chunfan season (spring equinox). The "Equal -Owner effect" is known and on West.

We will leave aside an apocryphal story with a Columbus Egg, which, according to a common Hypothesis, could come up with an Italian historian Girolamo Benzoni in 1565. We turn to physics.

Firstly, it is not clear why the popular text refers to the “only one of the year”, if the conditions immediately describe the possibility of a similar effect in Autumn equinox day - 22 (sometimes 23) September. This day from the point of view of astronomy is no different from March 20, being its analogue for the southern hemisphere, where spring, as you know, comes with a shift of six months. Nevertheless, the legend is about the March balancing of eggs Popular In Australia and New Zealand, which already causes some doubts about its truth.

Secondly, we consider the very concept of the seasons. Their existence is associated with the inclination of the axis of the rotation of the earth in relation to the plane of its orbit. When the earth's axis from the nearest pole is inclined towards the sun, there will be summer in this hemisphere. When the axis indicates the other way - winter. The days of the spring and autumn equinoxes indicate the time when the earth's axis is located strictly perpendicular to the lines connecting the center of the Sun and the Earth.

What does this give in practice? How Notes The American astronomer and the popularizer of science Phil Plate (The Bad Astronomer), this only means that the duration of the day and night on the specified day will be almost the same: about 12 hours. In other words, this will not affect us here, on the surface of the planet. If we were locked in a room without windows, we would not be able to determine that the day of the spring equinox is now - gravity remains unchanged. Gravitational and electromagnetic forces created by other celestial bodies are much weaker and more stable than outrage created by the breath and heartbeat of a person.

As it turns out, the popularity of the legend of the spring balancing of eggs in the West is associated with the exit on March 19, 1945 in the American magazine Life Articles Under the name "Eggs are vertically in Chunutsin." It was dedicated to the insanity of the population of the temporary capital of China on this fun on the feast of the parish of Spring Personal, which is celebrated on February 4-5, and not at all March at all.

According to the article, on this February day, most of the population of Chunzin is engaged in the balancing of eggs. These items can be seen everywhere: on lawns, tables and other surfaces. According to legend, which the article was erected to two ancient Chinese books (the search engines of their name are unknown), for two hours at the turn of winter and spring, the egg miraculously should stand vertically. And in February 1945, after the news of the next such holiday, Albert Einstein himself allegedly expressed doubt that a similar effect was achieved. Upon learning of this, the indignant residents of the city gathered and took a photograph with newly installed eggs. At first, they were supposedly going to lay out from them the inscription "Einstein - crazy":

The publication in Life caused excitement in the United States and attempts to repeat the success of the Asians, but not in the world, alien to the Western world, but on a more familiar and rather symbolic day of the spring equinox. Mania reached the peak almost 40 years later on Manhattan. According to article In The New Yorker, in March 1983, Donna Henes organized her sixth annual egg balancing ceremony in order to contribute to the establishment of harmony on Earth. The event was marked by the operation at the appointed hour of 52 alarm signal missiles, one for each week of the year. While the missiles were burning, Henes distributed 360 raw eggs to others. Why 360? Because, as Henes explained, the circle of the earth is 360 °.

In 1947, after the Chinese tradition was written in Japan, the local physicist Ukitiro is experimentally provedthat the egg can be put vertically at any time of the year. He drew attention to the fact that the egg shell usually has many small tubercles and dimples. At the same time, it is not difficult to find such a position so that the center of the mass of the egg is inside the triangle formed by three points of contact with the surface, which is a condition for balancing any object. His discovery was Confirmed astronomer Frank Gigo in 1984. The latter for more than a month, from February 27 to April 3, was trying to install 12 eggs on a plastic table daily, and over time its results improved purely due to the acquisition of experience. Moreover, the day of the spring equinox turned out to be almost the most unsuccessful for the experimenter, which the latter connected with too late for experience - 4:24 in the night, as required by the astronomical calendar.

Everything turned out and his colleague Phil Plateite on October 25, 1998:

There is, of course, a simpler, but fraudulent way - to pour a little salt under the egg, which will allow the subject to balance between several almost imperceptible crystals. However, without this, it can be confidently argued that the balancing of eggs is quite real and does not depend on the day or time of the year.